FBI: "Don't underestimate these groups"

FBI officials conducted a press conference Tuesday to address the recent arrests of suspected terrorists in the Inland Empire.

Bill Lewis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office and David Bowdich, special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division in Los Angeles, briefly addressed the media, but did not elaborate beyond what is alleged in the complaint.

The recently arrested suspected terrorists from the Inland Empire did not pose a local threat, officials said, adding that the alleged targets were U.S. and coalition military personnel overseas.

On Friday, four Inland Empire men were arrested in connection to a terrorist plot that was foiled by federal agents.

Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, an Afghanistan native and former resident of Pomona; Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario and a native of the Philippines; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales 21, of Upland; and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside, a United States citizen, were arrested on suspicion of plotting to join Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan in hopes of killing Americans.

According to the complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, the four conspired to provide material support to terrorists in preparation for or in carrying out acts of terrorism.

The four were apprehended on Friday without incident by members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and had their initial appearance before a federal magistrate this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Riverside, California. Santana and Deleon were remanded to federal custody and Gojali's detention hearing was continued to Nov. 26.

Kabir is in custody in Afghanistan.

Lewis told the media on Tuesday that agents had been following the homegrown terrorists for 'quite a while'

He added 'There was no way they were going to get on that plane' that would've allowed them to target overseas U.S. Interests.

The FBI also said the main lesson learned from this case is - 'don't underestimate these groups. They took very definitive steps to accomplish their plan.'